Getting the house and finances organised…slowly

Back in June I fessed up our debts and happily decided that we would clear our credit cards by September this year, easy peasy right? Especially when we had news that hubby was getting a work bonus – bang! the credit card debt would be gone, just like that. Except it wasn’t.

Hubby got his bonus – hurray! – paid off his credit card – hurray! – and just as I was thinking about using my bit of savings to clear my credit card a car bill hit. Bam. £900 gone just like that.

Not the end of the world, bit annoying, needed to be sorted and all that. Then whilst I was playing with the spreadsheet and seeing where we could make a few savings an invoice was posted through the door. AN INVOICE from our actual next-to-our-house-attached neighbors. Turns out they have decided to put up a fence in the near future, got a quote as-you-do and have billed us for half. We’re currently entering negotiations* and no doubt I’ll have a whole story to tell once the issue is resolved.

While the temptation is to have a strop and devour copious amounts of wine instead I checked how long I have left on my 0% credit card which was only another two months! So I’ve done something I’ve never done before – I’ve applied for a 0% balance transfer card to give me some breathing space on paying the balance off while the threat of a large unexpected fencing bill looms.

Having never done a balance transfer before I wasn’t sure what to expect and oh my god the bank made it so easy! 5 minutes, a few details later and I was officially approved for a new credit card. I may have 33 months to pay but I certainly don’t intend to keep even £1 of credit card debit for longer than I have to!

No wonder so many people are in credit card debt. Not only is it easy to get a credit card in the first place, there are incentives to do so with ‘rewards’, the banks increase your spending limit with a smile and then even shifting balances are a breeze if your credit score is good.